5 ways to reach your daily step goal

Updated August 2024 | 5 min read
Words by Lucy E Cousins

The average Australian walks only 4,000 steps a day. Here are five ways to increase that number and improve your health and wellbeing.

Regular movement is important to keep your body in healthy, durable shape – and the benefits apply even if your lifestyle is otherwise sedentary. A 2024 University of Sydney study of more than 72,000 people found that taking up to 10,000 steps a day may reduce your risk of premature death and heart disease, and may help offset the health risks of a mostly sedentary lifestyle (for example, if you have a full-time office job).

But what if you’re falling well short of taking 10,000 steps a day? Regardless of your daily total, moving your body more regularly will still have positive health benefits, so here are some tips on how to improve your daily step count.

What are the benefits of walking 10,000 steps a day?

Most of us only walk around 4,000 steps a day, reports Care Australia. Many personal trainers, fitness trackers and health magazines recommend walking 10,000 steps a day, but for some of us, this goal seems unachievable and sometimes disheartening.

Over the past five decades, research has shown we might not have to reach that golden number to get benefits from walking.

One of the most recent is a 2023 meta-analysis of 12 studies which found as little as 2,600 steps a day was enough to reduce the risk of premature death, with 8,800 steps considered the optimal dose.

And a 2021 JAMA Network Open Study found people who took more than 7,000 steps a day had a 50 to 70% lower risk of death than those who took fewer than 7,000. Authors concluded that taking more than 10,000 steps didn’t lead to significantly improved health.

This lack of agreement in the scientific world could be one of the reasons the Australian Department of Health guidelines measure exercise recommendations in hours instead of steps. These guidelines recommend adults between 18 and 64 years of age do 2.5–5 hours of moderate activity each week, like walking, dancing, hiking and swimming.

Whether you’re aiming for a certain number of steps or a certain number of hours, to get the heart-health benefits from your regular walks, you’ll need to maintain a brisk pace, meaning you’re puffing slightly. You also need to include muscle-strengthening activities in your schedule at least two days a week, like squats, yoga or lifting weights, for overall health and to reduce your risk of chronic disease such as diabetes and heart disease.

With that in mind, here are five simple ways that could help you get moving more for better health and wellbeing:

1. Download an app

If you like motivational talks, the Apple Time to Walk feature allows you to listen to celebrities, like Dolly Parton, Stephen Fry, Shawn Mendes and Jane Fonda, talk about where they find their inspiration. If you prefer fiction, sign up for suspense thriller The Walk, an audio spy novel where you're the main character. It’s interactive, immersive and produced by the same people as the popular Zombies, Run! app for runners.

2. Listen to a podcast

There are thousands of podcasts to choose from and many of them range from 30 minutes to one hour. Find one or two that you love, but only allow yourself to listen to them when you’re moving. This could be while you clean the house, walk to the shops or go on a hike. That way you’ll be motivated to stay active until you’ve finished an episode.

3. Walk down memory lane

Use the time on your daily walk or in your daily life to record yourself talking about a person, memory or time in your life. Just use earphones and the record function on your phone (or apps like Rev Voice Recorder app) to record your memories as you move. Share these with your family or just save them to listen to yourself.

4. Schedule walks

Contact with friends and family is a great way to distract yourself from how long you’ve been moving. It can also have positive mental health benefits, so it makes sense to include them in your fitness plan. You could meet up with a different friend for a walk, or you could call a friend on every walk.

Consider walking or hiking groups as well, as other people will encourage you to get moving even when you might not feel like it.

5. Create small changes

Small everyday changes can make a huge difference to how much you move in a day. Meet friends at cafes you can walk to, have phone meetings while you walk, get off the bus one stop early or do a supermarket shop instead of ordering online. It can all make a difference to your overall health and wellbeing.

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